The theme this year is: “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet”.

On Tuesday 19 October at 9 AM (EST), the Permanent Forum will organize a regional dialogue on Indigenous Peoples’ autonomy and self-governance in the Latin America and Caribbean region. 

There will be interpretation available from Spanish to English and vice-versa.

At its twentieth session, the Permanent Forum committed to facilitating informal online regional dialogues on autonomy and self-governance to support the development of guiding principles for the realization of the rights of Indigenous Peoples to autonomy and self-government.

Marking the International Day of Older Persons this Friday, the United Nations is driving home the message that “digital equality” online, needs to be inclusive of everybody, regardless of age.

In his message, the UN Secretary-General said that as each individual faces the challenge of navigating the world’s growing reliance on technology, “perhaps no population could benefit more from support, than older persons.”

The United Nations International Day of Older Persons 2021 (UNIDOP) theme “Digital Equity for All Ages” predicates the need for access and meaningful participation in the digital world by older persons.

The world “is challenged like never before”, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, but the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) still offer a roadmap to get back on track.

“It would be easy to lose hope. But we are not hopeless. Or helpless. We have a path to recovery. If we choose to take it,” he said.

The General Assembly opens its seventy-sixth session in challenging times. President, H.E. Abdulla Shahid takes the leadership of the Assembly, committed to focus on “Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainability, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations”.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, with 144 countries voting in support, 4 voting against and 11 abstaining. 

Ongoing and emerging global trends, such as globalization, new technologies, the rise in global inequality, demographic shifts, climate change and threats generated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will dramatically impact societies and individuals of all ages, and will determine the nature and future of work.

“They are tackling inequities in food security, biodiversity loss, threats to our environment and much more”, Secretary-General António Guterres spelled out in his message for the day.

The report of the Secretary-General to the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing provides an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on older persons. It serves to explore pathways to ensure that older persons are better incorporated into efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in various policy areas. The report also features selected work carried out by the United Nations system on ageing and older persons. It contains key recommendations for consideration by the Assembly.